Gladstein’s Men’s Shop

Gladstein’s men’s clothing shop, formerly located at 209 W. Mangum Street, was owned and operated for many years by the Gladstein family of Durham, N.C. According to a recent article from the Herald Sun, Gladstein’s used to be THE place to buy Levi’s blue jeans. If the mural in this photograph from the Durham Urban Renewal Records project is to be trusted, you could get your Lee’s there as well. The building was demolished during the 1970s, and the spot where it stood is now a parking lot. For more images of Gladstein’s (and the parking lot) see this post on the Endangered Durham blog.

The stories of some members of the Gladstein family, who came to Durham from New York through an association with tobacco magnate Buck Duke, are told in a new publication from UNC Press, Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina by Leonard Rogoff, as well as a corresponding exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History.